My Only Crime
by Gorsecloud
Summary: Sometimes even the best of friendships go sour. But who was Alison to blame the Kricketot that belonged to her former best friend? That's why she wanted to return it to its home in Sinnoh... But of course, nothing is ever that simple...
1. Prologue

_So it's been a while. _

_You wouldn't think it, the way we talk. When we get together, it's like magic. It's like we never were separated when you moved. And it's like we pick back up right where we left off the last time. I love that about our friendship. _

_It wasn't supposed to happen this way, I know. We were supposed to go on our journeys together. Childhood friends, moving out into the world. We were going to be in this together, no matter what. But then your dad's job took you to Sinnoh, and I stayed in Mahogany Town. So we took this instead, Trainer rivals, meeting and battling and pushing each other on, but never quite forgetting the roots which we started with. We might look like ordinary friendly rivals to someone watching, but in fact we're so much more. Friends. The best of friends.  
_

_It wasn't supposed to happen this way... But I think... I almost..._

_Prefer it..._

Prologue: Exchanges

Kyle was late. It was no surprise, to be honest, but Alison couldn't help but feel the faintest bit of annoyance. It was the kind of annoyance that comes when one is looking forward to something, only to find that yet another delay is setting it back. Taking another sip of the lemonade she'd brought, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the surprise she'd brought for her best friend. It was a round object, red on one side and white on the other, with a black line dividing the two and a white button along the edge. To most people, it was simply known as a PokéBall, a capsule system used to contain Pokémon. But to Pokémon Trainers, like Alison, what was far more important was what was _inside_ it.

Next to Alison's chair, a Chikorita lay, stretched out lazily, enjoying the sun. It lifted its head slightly and chirruped questioningly.

"He'll be here soon, Sunny" Alison replied, adding with a smile, "Or at least, he better be."

Twisting her fingers around, she spun the PokéBall she held on one finger, though the image was ruined by the fact that the Ball wobbled clumsily before falling off. Alison quickly fumbled for a second, and managed to succeed in catching it before it hit the ground.

"Seriously though," she added to the Chikorita, "He really does need to get here soon."

For several long minutes the girl waited, hazel eyes bored and fingers drumming impatiently on the table. Then suddenly, the Chikorita picked her head up and let out an exclamation, jumping to her feet. Alison looked down at her partner, then followed the Pokémon's gaze. Then her own face cracked into a grin and she too leapt to her feet as a taller boy hastily pushed his way through the crowd outside the restaurant.

"'scuze me, pardon me, comin' through..."

"Kyle!" Alison cried, running forward.  
"Hey Al!"

They traded high-fives, arm claps, and even a few other motions that added up to a bit of a secret handshake. It had been a while since the two best friends had seen each other, and it was clear they were pleased at the reunion.

"Sorry, I'm late," Kyle said, sitting down across the table as Alison resumed her seat.

"Yeah, yeah, nothing you haven't said before," Alison said, waving a hand dismissively, "How's it been?"

"Working for my third badge," he replied with a grin, "I've been trying to catch a new Pokemon to cover some of my weaknesses."

"Who's the third Gym leader in Sinnoh again?" Alison asked with a frown.

"Most people go for Maylene, but I was thinking I might GAH-!" he replied, starting suddenly as something bumped his leg unexpectedly. Looking down, he sighed in relief seeing who it was. "Hey Sunny," he said cheerfully, reaching down and rubbing her head, making the little Chikorita close her eyes comfortably, "You probably wanna see Icy, don't you?"

Sunny chirped and bounced up and down on her feet. Her meaning couldn't have been plainer. Laughing, Kyle pulled a PokéBall out of his belt and pressed the button on the capsule. "Come on out, Icy."

There was a flash of white light, and a Piplup materialized in front of the Chikorita. The latter let out a squeak of delight, followed by the former once it became fully aware of its surroundings and realized who was in front of it. The two Pokémon began to play, chasing each other around the table where their owners sat, deep in discussion. Their discussion ranged from topic to topic, never quite settling on one thing for longer than a few minutes.

Finally, Alison held up the PokéBall she'd been playing with. "By the way... I have a surprise for you. Catch."

She lightly tossed the Ball forward; Kyle caught it. He scrutinized it, rotating the Ball in his hand, before frowning up in puzzlement at a grinning Alison.

Suddenly understanding flared in his eyes. "Is this-"

"Yep," Alison said, her grin widening.

"B-but..." Kyle stammered, staring down at the PokéBall he was holding, "How... how did-"

"I knew you wanted one, so I looked everywhere while I was journeying," Alison replied, "I finally found one just recently."

Delighted, Kyle threw the PokéBall into the air to reveal a Sudowoodo. "Excellent," he said delightedly, but then his face fell slightly.

Alison smirked, knowing the mental battle that was taking place in her childhood friend's head at that moment. The fact that she had brought him a Pokémon he had really wanted was probably driving him up the wall. Kyle hated being outdone.

Kyle looked down, biting his lip slightly. Then suddenly he jerked up.  
"Um... here," he said quickly, thrusting a hand into his pocket and pulling out a PokéBall of his own and holding it out. "I, uh- just caught it, but..."

Alison shook her head, "Kyle, you don't have to do that!"

"Come on, just take it," Kyle insisted, holding it out. She shook her head, but he persisted until she at last reached out and took the PokéBall and pocketed it, shaking her head in exasperation.

"So..." he said as she did so, reaching down and picking up a surprised Icy as he chased after Sunny around the table, "How about a battle?"

"What do you think Sunny?" Alison glanced down at her starter, who skidded to a stop and turned around to face the two trainers and Piplup, "Ready to kick some butt!"

At her question, Sunny let out a trill, swinging her leaf around.

"Looks like that's a yes," Alison grinned, "You're on!"

And at that, the two friends got up and began to race towards a more suitable location, followed by their Pokémon.

* * *

**Pokemon (c) Nintendo**

**Don't be fooled by the lighthearted beginning, guys. That's all I'll say. The title alone should give you a clue.**

**Thanks for reading, and I appreciate all feedback!  
**


	2. Chapter 1: Why?

_I hate you. _

_I used to trust you. You used to be my best friend in the world. You were there for me when I needed you most, and I did my best to be there for you. But now, all of that gone. Shattered. I tried to hold it together, our friendship, everything. I tried to keep what we had alive. But it's over. I'm not dealing with the hurt anymore._

_No more tears. No more apologies. No more forgiveness._

_When you broke my trust, you broke it absolutely._

Chapter 1: Why?

Alison stood in the doorway of her room for one long moment, looking around slowly. The silence in the room was oppressive, pushing in on her on all sides. Her life hurt so much, everything was wrong, and how could everything be so still and calm and peaceful? She felt the hurt pressing in on all sides, until finally it was too much to bear.

"Arceus _damn him!_" she shouted to the empty room, whipping around and slamming the door as hard as she could. Swinging around, she kicked at empty air, lost her balance, and fell onto her bed, where she began to cry.

Why? Why!? _Why_ did things happen this way? Why had he become such a damn jerk? Why did he turn from her best friend whom she trusted with everything into _that_? Why, why _WHY!?_

Tears leaked from under Alison's eyelids as her face screwed up, her hiccuping sobs increasing in frequency and severity until she was nearly hyperventilating. At that point, she reached out and groped blindly for her pillow, stuffing her face into the soft plush as soon as she found it. Getting air through the thick material forced her body to breathe more slowly and deeply, something she'd found a while ago.

For the longest time, she let her mind go blank, focusing only on pushing air in and out of her lungs, feeling her hiccuping gasps subside. After a while, she sat up again and looked around the room. But her mind turned of its own accord back to the subject she was trying to forget, and she buried her face into the pillow once more as a soft moan escaped her.

Alison contemplated screaming into the pillow. Her mother had always said it was a great way to relieve stress. But even as she took a deep breath, she just felt so _ridiculous, _and in the end only did a sort of half-scream that wasn't really that satisfying.

Curling up into a ball, the sixteen year-old thought miserably that she would give anything to not care right now. She would have given anything to have not cared a long time ago, back when this whole miserable mess started.

_But I've always had trouble letting things go_, she told herself, _Especially friends._

It was ironic that what had mattered to her the most was something she didn't want to care about.

Though, to be fair, it was probably because they had gone so far back, and they had been so close. They shared a hometown, had grown up playing together. They'd even planned to go on their Pokemon journeys together, until his dad moved. Even then, the friendship hadn't died. They called, sent letters, even met several times on their journeys. They could talk about anything and everything.

Until about two years ago.

It'd just started as one thing. A minor disagreement here and there. A debate that degenerated into a bit more of a fight. It'd unnerved Alison, but she'd heard, all the time, that friends typically went through spats, and that a friendship as peaceful as hers and Kyle's had been was unusual. That, and she and Kyle had apologized to each other, and made up pretty quickly. So she'd pushed it to the back of her mind, ignoring the worried little voice in the back of her mind.

But it had just gotten worse, and worse, the fights happening more often and becoming more intense, and the two of them becoming less and less quick to make up after it. And even then, during their peaceful times, there was a difference. They just weren't open with each other anymore, and their conversations always seemed to have this edge to it, as if they were both worried that the least thing they would say would set the other off. Then the communication had started to become more and more infrequent, coming in short bursts once in a blue moon.

Then, finally...

But no. Alison didn't want to think about that anymore. She didn't want to think about _anything_ that had to do with _Kyle_ anymore.

Suddenly launching herself off the bed, she stumbled over to her desk, pulling the top drawer entirely out and dumping its contents – a hodgepodge of objects that were nevertheless mainly comprised of papers – on the floor. She seized the papers and started ruffling through them.

Most of them were letters from Kyle. Alison was a pack rat, and had kept every one, stashing them all in the same drawer in an attempt to be at least _somewhat_ organized. Now she pulled them out, one by one. Birthday cards, holiday greetings, general "hey it's me" letters. She resisted the urge to tear them apart, instead tossing them into a careless pile on one side. She'd find the paper shredder later.

When she was done with the contents of the first drawer, she moved onto the second, and then the bottom before switching sides.

Memories flashed before her eyes, literally, as some of the drawers included pictures. There was the two of them the time their families took the day trip to the Red Lake... playing board games in her living room, outside a cafe, comparing notes on Pokemon... even the two of them in front of the Jhoto League the one time she'd taken part in the competition. Other memories came in the form of gifts and presents he'd given her over the years, all of them being dumped one by one into the ever-increasing pile of things to be trashed, unless something had particularly personal value that overshadowed the reminders of Kyle. There weren't many of those, however.

She finished her desk and moved onto the closet, pulling out a box she kept old excess things in. She dug through it, sorting through the objects until she finally pulled out an old scrapbook they'd made together. For a moment, she stared at it, then opened it with trembling fingers and flicked through a few pages slowly, looking at clumsily cut pictures and notes written in childish scrawl. There were many happy memories in this book.

Memories that were gone.

Her eyes burned and it was all Alison could do to not fling the book away from her. She finally ended up tossing it carelessly into the pile, before sitting back and gulping slowly, trying to keep herself from crying yet again. Taking deep breaths, she shoved her hand back into the box and felt around.

Suddenly, her hand bumped something hard, knocking it around the bottom of the box.

Alison paused and frowned. _What's this?_ Feeling around for it, she found it again. It was round, whatever it was, and just about big enough to fit neatly in the palm of her hand-

Alison froze. She'd have to be an idiot to not realize what this was. Pulling her hand out, she stared at the PokeBall nestled in her palm. It couldn't have been one of hers, could it? She didn't leave any of her team lying around where it might have accidentally been shoved aside like this! Besides, she knew exactly where all her Pokemon were... right?

She thought so, so that left two alternatives. This was either someone else's Pokemon, or it was empty. She bit her lip, trying to think. She didn't usually trade, she tended to get to attached to any and all Pokemon she caught. And the chances of someone accidentally leaving it in her room were unlikely. She didn't invite trainers over to her house, they usually met on the road, like she and Kyle-

_Damnit, Alison, don't think about him_, she growled to herself, looking down. _Just focus on this. You don't know who's it is. Heck, you still don't even know if it's occupied or not..._

Well, there was only one way to find the latter question out.

Pressing the button firmly, she whispered, "PokeBall, Go."

The ball opened, and a beam of white light shot out of it, solidifying into a small creature no more than a foot tall. The light faded, leaving a small red-and-yellow Pokemon in it's place. It was short, and had a big nose, plus wings that fit around it almost like a cape. Probably a Bug type.

It looked up at her with confused brown eyes, then shook its head as if to clear it. Two long, black antennae hit each other as they did so, making Alison giggle slightly in surprise at the sound.

"You sound like a xylophone," she commented, looking around for her backpack, "Who are you anyway?" She'd never seen a Pokemon like this before, and her Pokedex was in her backpack. Whatever it was though, it certainly was cute...

She finally spotted her backpack hanging conveniently on the post of her bed, making it a simple matter to reach in and pull out her Pokedex. Pointing it at the odd little Pokemon in front of her, she waited for it to bring up the data. Once it did so, she hit a button that, instead of displaying the full article, gave her a summary of key points.

_**401. Kricketot**_

_The Cricket Pokemon_

_Avg. hieght: 1'0"_

_Avg. weight: 5 lbs._

_A common Pokemon found in the Sinnoh region, Kricketot is a nocturnal Bug Pokemon. It is often found living in trees. Its diet mainly consists of fruit and berries. It hits its two antennae against each other to communicate with others, producing a xylophone-like sound. Its cry is known as the harebringer of autumn._

_It evolves into Kricketune._

By the time she finished, Alison wasn't smiling. If this had come at any other time, she might not have realized it, might have taken some time to figure it out. But now, even though she was trying everything to make it otherwise, she was sensitive to every little thing that might have to do to with him. Every possible reference that might lead to him did.

Alison looked down at the entry again, reading it over again in the vain hopes that she had misread. Then her eyes darted up to the Kricketot, who was staring at her, shifting uneasily as if it could sense her agitation.

_A common Pokemon in the Sinnoh region,_ it had said.

_A common Pokemon in the **Sinnoh** region._

Kyle lived in Sinnoh. He was the only really close friend she'd had who lived there. And any faint hope that it might've been someone else's was crushed by the memory that suddenly flitted back into her head.

… _he'd always wanted a Sudowoodo..._

She closed her eyes, the tears she'd been trying to hold back overwhelming her again.

_...she'd gotten him one as a present that day they met up again... _

The Kricketot let out an anxious chirrup and trotted towards her for some reason, but she pushed it away roughly.

… _but he hated to be outdone._

"Oh no," she moaned. "Oh no, no no..."

All that was left was the one question that had been ringing throughout her head for the past day, over and over.

_Why, why, **why?**_

_**

* * *

**_***sighs***** This story's going to be an interesting ride. That's all I'm going to say.**

**Feedback is always appreciated.  
**


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